Theme: ? When Victor Hugo sent an ingenious telegram to his publisher to ask how sales of his new novel "Les Miserables" were going, to save money he sent just "?" He received the reply "!" Which leads us in a roundabout fashion to ...
19A. Big musical number ... or what 60-Across is to four puzzle answers?: SHOW STOPPER
and when we navigate downtown, we find:
60A. Decisive ending: EXCLAMATION MARK
So let's see what this is all about:
16D. Musical revue performed in the nude: OH! CALCUTTA! Two show-stoppers here, I guess, one in the first act and one at the end. The title of the show is a play on a French phrase which you'd use to be complimentary about someone's - ahem - derrière.
18D. Musical whose first run won 10 Tony Awards: HELLO, DOLLY!
38D. Musical featuring ABBA songs: MAMMA MIA!
39D. Musical awarded a special Pulitzer in 1944: OKLAHOMA! The Pulitzer jury was a little vague about why the prize was awarded, the citation just says "A special award for Oklahoma".
So we've got an unusual grid size (15x16) and East-West symmetry only. Why? To accommodate the theme. The 15-letter reveal needs to live alone, so in a regular puzzle it would have to occupy the middle row, and you can't fit the other themers around it, neither across nor down. So stretch the grid and abandon the N-S symmetry. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, as long as the concessions to the theme don't reflect badly in the fill. In this case, I'm not sure.
Purist's section - you certainly shouldn't have OH! CALCUTTA!, and you shouldn't have any other exclamation marks anywhere else. (Hello, 6D and others.) If you want to build a puzzle around a punctuation mark, you have to be consistent. If you can't find four theme entries that work with your reveal, either toss the puzzle away with a "ah, well, I tried" or think of a new way of tying those musicals together.
With that, let's see what's in store as we go down the aisles, not stopping to pick up any one of the 17 three-letter words littering the shelves:
Across:
1. Coffee holder: CUP. Not URN nor MUG then. I think we need a campaign to stop coffee appropriating tea's vessel of choice. It's a cup o' tea in my book.
4. "Top Chef" host Lakshmi: PADMA
9. Droop: SAG
12. Tapped-off remnant: ASH. Hopefully not seen around for much longer.
13. Thread holder: SPOOL
14. T'ai __: CHI. Fill in the blanks and move on.
15. Club condiment: MAYO. Do you need mayo with a club sandwich? Mayo-be you do.
17. "Fiddler" meddler: YENTE
18. Chemistry Nobelist Otto: HAHN
22. "My Friend" title horse: FLICKA. I read this book as a kid, I remember very little about it, it seemed a little formulaic maybe? Boy loves horse, horse is sick, boy gets sick, boy gets well, horse lives.
24. Coral creatures: POLYPS
27. "A Legacy of Spies" author: LE CARRÉ
29. Makes a mess of: FOULS UP
30. St. Teresa's town: AVILA
31. VII x XIII: XCI. The desperate act of a constructor. Short of options? Throw a roman numeral in there, no-one will notice. I know, I've done it myself.
33. Rodeo performer: ROPER
34. Catchall abbr.: MISC. ET AL is a temptation here.
35. Pool tool: CUE
36. Eat in style: DINE. That would preclude dining at the diner, which is amusing. I read recently that Amtrak are doing away with the dining car on most of their services, a shame. There's definitely something stylish about dining on a train. When I commuted into London as a youth, my train had a bar car. The journey home was an hour and one minute, and a very convivial hour it was too. Some folk were known to miss their stop intentionally to have "one for the road" and then catch the next train back.
37. Dramatic accusation: ET TU
38. Paris transit: METRO. I love the art deco signage on some of the stations - I think this one is just below Montmartre.
40. Deca- minus two: OCTA-
41. GPS part: Abbr.: SYST. Global Positioning System.
42. Smart __: ALECK
43. Eco-friendly certification letters: LEED. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, as we all know. Or not.
44. Tablet named for an organ: TUMS. My "tum" is an organ? I guess. "STOMACHS" doesn't fit. Not sure I like the twee euphemism here.
46. Kosher food carrier: EL AL
48. Preserve, in a way: EMBALM
51. "The Joy Luck Club" novelist: AMY TAN. On my "to-read" list. My dad taught me how to play mah-jong with a set he brought back from Hong Kong when he was stationed there with the British army in the 20's and 30's. Many years later in Beijing in 2008 I joined a pop-up game in a little square near the Drum Tower. The locals were surprised that I knew how to pick up the tiles, let alone play the game (albeit very slowly!)
55. Philosopher __-tzu: LAO
56. Short rest: NAP
58. Word for a woman: SHE
59. Hosp. area: I.C.U.
64. "I like that": NICE
65. Cool beans or warm fuzzies: IDIOM
66. Great Lake city: ERIE
67. MC alternative: AMEX. I didn't get the "MC" at first, so this needed some help from the crosses. MC : Mastercard AMEX : American Express
68. Yoga pose: ASANA
69. Word for men: LADS. It's a bit of an oddity, this clue. "Word for ..." doesn't add anything and doesn't misdirect either. Curious.
Down:
1. Dash attachment: CAM
2. NATO founding member: USA
3. The Curies, e.g.: PHYSICISTS
4. Propaganda battle: PSYWAR. Psychological Warfare.
5. Tarzan raisers: APES
6. "Cut it out!": DON'T!
7. Con __: briskly: MOTO
8. Syrian city: ALEPPO
9. Member of a 1990s girl group: SCARY SPICE which ties in with 63D later on.
10. Spa sigh: AHH!
11. Martini default: GIN. You'd think so, but I bet a dollar to a donut that if you ordered a martini and didn't specify, you'd get vodka, or at least be asked which vodka you wanted. The "James Bond" martini has both gin and vodka, and lilet blanc.
20. Gumbo pod: OKRA. Tends to be a little polarizing, this innocent vegetable, due to the "slime" factor. I use it regularly when I cook Indian food.
21. Refill a glass, say: POUR
22. Fire sign: FLAMES. I get the wordplay here, but aren't flames the fire itself, not a sign of fire? I'm not sure, perhaps someone can explain the chemistry behind the plasma.
23. Flippancy: LEVITY
25. Mambo legend Tito: PUENTE. "Oye Como Va".
26. Nutella, e.g.: SPREAD
28. Shines: EXCELS
29. Cutthroat, as competition: FIERCE
32. Meet-__: romcom device: CUTE. Totally unknown to me.
45. Radius neighbor: ULNA
47. "You said it!": AMEN!
48. Justice Kagan: ELENA
49. Pithy saying: MAXIM
50. Lawn game: BOCCE
52. Wonder Woman topper: TIARA
53. Pungent: ACRID
54. Zaps for dinner: NUKES
57. Sketchbooks: PADS
58. "The Da Vinci Code" priory: SION
61. Supervillain Luthor: LEX
62. Hermana de la madre: TIA. Aunt. A certain proficiency in Spanish required for this one - "Sister of the mother".
63. __ B: 9-Down's professional name: MEL
So here's the grid in all its 16x15 mirror-symmetry glory ...
But first, I learned "LEED", "PSYWAR" and "MEET-CUTE today. Always a good day when you go to bed more learnèd than you began it. The problem is that I think my brain was already full, and those three new 'uns just pushed some important stuff out, although I think I'll try and forget "MEET-CUTE". Now, where did I leave my car?
... as promised the grid - and where the heck did I leave the corkscrew?
Steve
19A. Big musical number ... or what 60-Across is to four puzzle answers?: SHOW STOPPER
and when we navigate downtown, we find:
60A. Decisive ending: EXCLAMATION MARK
So let's see what this is all about:
16D. Musical revue performed in the nude: OH! CALCUTTA! Two show-stoppers here, I guess, one in the first act and one at the end. The title of the show is a play on a French phrase which you'd use to be complimentary about someone's - ahem - derrière.
18D. Musical whose first run won 10 Tony Awards: HELLO, DOLLY!
38D. Musical featuring ABBA songs: MAMMA MIA!
39D. Musical awarded a special Pulitzer in 1944: OKLAHOMA! The Pulitzer jury was a little vague about why the prize was awarded, the citation just says "A special award for Oklahoma".
So we've got an unusual grid size (15x16) and East-West symmetry only. Why? To accommodate the theme. The 15-letter reveal needs to live alone, so in a regular puzzle it would have to occupy the middle row, and you can't fit the other themers around it, neither across nor down. So stretch the grid and abandon the N-S symmetry. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, as long as the concessions to the theme don't reflect badly in the fill. In this case, I'm not sure.
Purist's section - you certainly shouldn't have OH! CALCUTTA!, and you shouldn't have any other exclamation marks anywhere else. (Hello, 6D and others.) If you want to build a puzzle around a punctuation mark, you have to be consistent. If you can't find four theme entries that work with your reveal, either toss the puzzle away with a "ah, well, I tried" or think of a new way of tying those musicals together.
With that, let's see what's in store as we go down the aisles, not stopping to pick up any one of the 17 three-letter words littering the shelves:
Across:
1. Coffee holder: CUP. Not URN nor MUG then. I think we need a campaign to stop coffee appropriating tea's vessel of choice. It's a cup o' tea in my book.
4. "Top Chef" host Lakshmi: PADMA
9. Droop: SAG
12. Tapped-off remnant: ASH. Hopefully not seen around for much longer.
13. Thread holder: SPOOL
14. T'ai __: CHI. Fill in the blanks and move on.
15. Club condiment: MAYO. Do you need mayo with a club sandwich? Mayo-be you do.
17. "Fiddler" meddler: YENTE
18. Chemistry Nobelist Otto: HAHN
22. "My Friend" title horse: FLICKA. I read this book as a kid, I remember very little about it, it seemed a little formulaic maybe? Boy loves horse, horse is sick, boy gets sick, boy gets well, horse lives.
24. Coral creatures: POLYPS
27. "A Legacy of Spies" author: LE CARRÉ
29. Makes a mess of: FOULS UP
30. St. Teresa's town: AVILA
31. VII x XIII: XCI. The desperate act of a constructor. Short of options? Throw a roman numeral in there, no-one will notice. I know, I've done it myself.
33. Rodeo performer: ROPER
34. Catchall abbr.: MISC. ET AL is a temptation here.
35. Pool tool: CUE
36. Eat in style: DINE. That would preclude dining at the diner, which is amusing. I read recently that Amtrak are doing away with the dining car on most of their services, a shame. There's definitely something stylish about dining on a train. When I commuted into London as a youth, my train had a bar car. The journey home was an hour and one minute, and a very convivial hour it was too. Some folk were known to miss their stop intentionally to have "one for the road" and then catch the next train back.
37. Dramatic accusation: ET TU
38. Paris transit: METRO. I love the art deco signage on some of the stations - I think this one is just below Montmartre.
40. Deca- minus two: OCTA-
41. GPS part: Abbr.: SYST. Global Positioning System.
42. Smart __: ALECK
43. Eco-friendly certification letters: LEED. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, as we all know. Or not.
44. Tablet named for an organ: TUMS. My "tum" is an organ? I guess. "STOMACHS" doesn't fit. Not sure I like the twee euphemism here.
46. Kosher food carrier: EL AL
48. Preserve, in a way: EMBALM
51. "The Joy Luck Club" novelist: AMY TAN. On my "to-read" list. My dad taught me how to play mah-jong with a set he brought back from Hong Kong when he was stationed there with the British army in the 20's and 30's. Many years later in Beijing in 2008 I joined a pop-up game in a little square near the Drum Tower. The locals were surprised that I knew how to pick up the tiles, let alone play the game (albeit very slowly!)
55. Philosopher __-tzu: LAO
56. Short rest: NAP
58. Word for a woman: SHE
59. Hosp. area: I.C.U.
64. "I like that": NICE
65. Cool beans or warm fuzzies: IDIOM
66. Great Lake city: ERIE
67. MC alternative: AMEX. I didn't get the "MC" at first, so this needed some help from the crosses. MC : Mastercard AMEX : American Express
68. Yoga pose: ASANA
69. Word for men: LADS. It's a bit of an oddity, this clue. "Word for ..." doesn't add anything and doesn't misdirect either. Curious.
Down:
1. Dash attachment: CAM
2. NATO founding member: USA
3. The Curies, e.g.: PHYSICISTS
4. Propaganda battle: PSYWAR. Psychological Warfare.
5. Tarzan raisers: APES
6. "Cut it out!": DON'T!
7. Con __: briskly: MOTO
8. Syrian city: ALEPPO
9. Member of a 1990s girl group: SCARY SPICE which ties in with 63D later on.
10. Spa sigh: AHH!
11. Martini default: GIN. You'd think so, but I bet a dollar to a donut that if you ordered a martini and didn't specify, you'd get vodka, or at least be asked which vodka you wanted. The "James Bond" martini has both gin and vodka, and lilet blanc.
20. Gumbo pod: OKRA. Tends to be a little polarizing, this innocent vegetable, due to the "slime" factor. I use it regularly when I cook Indian food.
21. Refill a glass, say: POUR
22. Fire sign: FLAMES. I get the wordplay here, but aren't flames the fire itself, not a sign of fire? I'm not sure, perhaps someone can explain the chemistry behind the plasma.
23. Flippancy: LEVITY
25. Mambo legend Tito: PUENTE. "Oye Como Va".
26. Nutella, e.g.: SPREAD
28. Shines: EXCELS
29. Cutthroat, as competition: FIERCE
32. Meet-__: romcom device: CUTE. Totally unknown to me.
45. Radius neighbor: ULNA
47. "You said it!": AMEN!
48. Justice Kagan: ELENA
49. Pithy saying: MAXIM
50. Lawn game: BOCCE
52. Wonder Woman topper: TIARA
53. Pungent: ACRID
54. Zaps for dinner: NUKES
57. Sketchbooks: PADS
58. "The Da Vinci Code" priory: SION
61. Supervillain Luthor: LEX
62. Hermana de la madre: TIA. Aunt. A certain proficiency in Spanish required for this one - "Sister of the mother".
63. __ B: 9-Down's professional name: MEL
So here's the grid in all its 16x15 mirror-symmetry glory ...
But first, I learned "LEED", "PSYWAR" and "MEET-CUTE today. Always a good day when you go to bed more learnèd than you began it. The problem is that I think my brain was already full, and those three new 'uns just pushed some important stuff out, although I think I'll try and forget "MEET-CUTE". Now, where did I leave my car?
... as promised the grid - and where the heck did I leave the corkscrew?
Steve
